Thou art my Rock and my
Fortress, my Defence on my right hand, my strong shield in whom I
trust--"
Silence--except for the grating of rats in the ceiling as they tried to
gnaw the beams, and the moaning of the wind. Then the musical voice
would say, with infinite tenderness:
"He hath said thy foot shall not be moved. Thy keeper shall never, never
slumber nor sleep. O Lord, I am not asking Thee a very great thing, for
already Thou hast done wondrous things for me. This is a little thing, O
Thou that never sleepest! Give me ten minutes' rest, ten minutes' sleep.
To Thee a thousand years are but as yesterday. To me, O Lord, in this
weariness, a night is as a thousand years."
Helped by Marcella he would clamber into bed again, shutting his eyes,
waiting on the Lord, only to start up as the pumping of his worn-out,
strained heart almost choked him. And then, leaning back on heaped
pillows he would look out through the dark window and say, very humbly:
"Most patient hast Thou been with me, Oh Lord, when Thou wast seeking
me so far. Most patient must I be with Thee--I, who have no claim upon
Thy mercy save Thy own most holy kindliness to me."
And so the night would wear on; sometimes he would talk to God,
sometimes to Marcella, telling her how he had hated her because she was
not a boy and seemed, to his great strength, too much like her frail
English mother to be of any use in the world.
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